We report on a survey of global manufacturing sourcing decisions that were made by multi-national companies operating in China. Based on responses from Chinese managers, the survey explored explicit sourcing and technology company decisions. The analysis provided insights into what these firms...

During development of an innovative product there is often considerable uncertainty about component production cost, and it is of interest for both the manufacturer and the supplier to engage in a collaborative effort to reduce this uncertainty and lower the expected cost. Despite the obvious...

We consider a supply chain with one manufacturer who assembles an end-product using multiple outsourced parts. The end-product exhibits the “weakest-link” property, such that if any of its component parts fails, the end-product fails. The supplier of each component part can improve the...

Problem definition: Fast recovery from sourcing interruptions is a key objective for global supply chains and for business continuity professionals. In this paper, we study the impact of different supply chain strategies—supplier diversification and the use of long-term relationships—on the...